Pages

About

Well hello there, the name is Mandi. I was born on February 3, 1990 which makes me 27 years old. After living in Hawaii briefly for a couple of years in my early childhood, I spent the rest of my childhood in a small town located in Arizona. You’ve probably never heard of the town but it is called Thatcher if you’re interested. When I graduated high school I moved to the Mesa-Gilbert area and have been here ever since. I'd like to say I miss the small town life but if we're being honest...I only miss the food.

After high school I went through a lot of health issues. I was diagnosed with severe depression, social anxiety, and post traumatic stress disorder at the age of 19. By the age of 21 I had a new diagnosis to add to the list; polycystic ovarian syndrome. By this time I weighed over 275 pounds, had insulin resistant muscles and little hope of losing the weight or treating my PCOS on my own. At the suggestion of multiple doctors I had gastric bypass surgery on August 29, 2012. I stand by my decision and it was one of the best things that I have ever done for myself.

Recently I completed my bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Phoenix and I am now currently attending school online there again to get my masters degree in clinical mental health counseling. I hope to one day be able to work as a bariatric counselor as I feel like I can help others go through that experience as I have already gone through it and consider myself to be successful because of it. In the meantime I currently work as a respite provider for my cousin who has Autism, but I do consider school to be my full time job.

I am a very open person and always willing to talk about everything that I've been through so if you want to know more about anything please never hesitate to contact me. I would be more than happy to discuss things with you. Come find me on the Internet!

3 comments:

Hi Mandi! It's was great to learn more about you. Certain;y more than I've learned watching your videos. Then again, I'm a fairly new subscriber and learned of you from Hope Ortego. (Isn't she just the best?! :) Looking forward to more videos and more blog posts.